Plant, control system modernization program

Invensys stresses the importance of moving beyond migration and the idea of replacing like-with-like. Videos: Dave Gaertner and Mike Caliel explain how companies can improve by looking past the needs of immediate obsolescence.

08/23/2012

Invensys Operations Management, a global provider of technology systems, software solutions, and consulting services to manufacturing and infrastructure industries, has unveiled a new program designed to help clients modernize and improve the performance of their aging control systems and other plant assets. The program guides clients in justifying modernization costs, reducing risk, deploying advanced technology, and approaching plant upgrades strategically and systematically.

“Today’s manufacturers are facing new, more complicated challenges, even as their equipment and workforce continue to age,” said Dave Gaertner, global consulting director, Invensys Operations Management. “In order to comply with increasingly complex regulatory guidelines, minimize down time, and maintain safe, environmentally friendly operations, many companies are seeking to modernize their plants with a holistic view of their business requirements instead of making like-for-like equipment replacements. Taking advantage of their existing assets, modernization allows companies to link their business and production processes; remove traditional barriers to collaboration; and empower their most valuable resource—their people.”

The company contends that a holistic approach to modernization can provide the clearest, most cost-effective pathway to improving plant efficiencies, increasing production rates, and sustaining profitability. Under the program, Invensys will deliver full-scope consulting; project management; engineering; installation and maintenance services; and products and solutions that minimize the risk of operating obsolete technologies. The company’s hardware and software offerings address all operational areas of the plant, including instrumentation, I/O, HMIs, safety and critical control systems, turbo machinery assets, process safety lifecycle components, cyber security systems, and other cross- enterprise assets.

“Modernizing existing assets to meet today’s new business challenges has many, many benefits,” Gaertner said. “A full-scope modernization program can help reduce total cost of ownership; increase production rates; meet regulatory guidelines and manage risks; extend the life and performance of their systems; and improve response to changing business demand.”

For companies that know they need to modernize existing assets, but do not know where to begin, Invensys starts with an assessment to understand the company’s business initiatives and issues. The input received is then used to develop a long-range strategic plan that meets the plant’s business and technology needs. As part of the assessment, Invensys also helps clients establish return-on-investment targets.

“Invensys consultants carefully reviewed our issues and the results we wanted to achieve, then they quantified them based on information such as replacement power costs and other forms of ROI,” said Mike Hull, a computer controls supervisor at Arizona-based Salt River Project, the third-largest public power utility in the United States. “Furthermore, Invensys evaluated which of their products and services could address these issues and achieve our desired results.”

Above: Dave Gaertner, global consulting director, explains the launch of the holistic modernization program.
Below: Mike Caliel, CEO and president of Invensys Operations Management, discusses some of the drivingforces among manufacturers that have shaped this product and service offering.